Hong Kong Visas Made Easy

QOTW: Can I Get An Employment Visa Again If I Still Owe Taxes From The Last Time I Worked In Hong Kong?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Case Study, Employment Visas, Your Question Answered / No responses

What is the interplay between unpaid taxes and a Hong Kong employment visa application subsequently?

QUESTION

Hi,

I worked in Hong Kong last year, 2013, and left the city mid year after my work terminated.

When I left, my company filed a IR56G “leaving Hong Kong” tax form for me with the IRD.

However, I never followed up to see how much remainder taxes I owed for salary in 2013.

Now, I have just received an offer to come back to Hong Kong and the employer will be applying for a work visa for me.

Will my visa have difficulty being approved if I may have IRD payments to make?

I do not wish to delay my work visa from being approved. 

ANSWER

Whilst this is really a question that relates to tax and not immigration as such, there is a slight interplay between the two; effectively, you’re supposed to clear all outstanding taxation obligations if you’re a foreign national and you are leaving Hong Kong ostensibly permanently. Your employer does have certain obligations in relation to reporting the fact of your departure and then holding on to your last salary to again clear up any potential taxation obligations that sit in your hands as a result of your time spent working here previously. If that was never cleared up then you will still have an open file with the Inland Revenue Department and given that you’re now effectively wanting to come back to Hong Kong, notwithstanding the fact that there will be an immigration dimension to this, you really should clear up your taxes – approach the Inland Revenue Department, explain what’s going on and submit yourself for assessment.

Whatever the bill is, pay it, and then you can rest assured that the Immigration Department won’t be effectively looking at your application for a new employment visa through the lens of not having paid your taxes previously.

In a nutshell, get it sorted out so that it doesn’t have an impact at all on your new visa application. Good luck!

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What Are The Obligations Of An Employer To A Prospective Employee When An Application For A Hong Kong Employment Visa Has Been Refused?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Musing, Refusals & Appeals / 4 responses

Foreign nationals seeking to work in Hong Kong have a lot of stake in an employment visa application so when it doesn’t work out positively where does that leave their proposed relationship?

QUESTION

Hi,

After the recruitment process in a multinational company in Hong Kong, they decided to employ me, so I signed the offer job letter with all terms and conditions and I provided them all documents requested for the visa.

After about a month, a received an email from the company: my employment visa application was refused, as ImmD consider my position could be filled my a person from the local labour market.

I tried to convince my boss to make the application again but they denied saying that a successful result was not guaranteed and they could not wait longer.

Basics of the position:

– Native spanish, fluent english, experience in sales and customer service.

– Salary 16,000 hkd per month

My questions are:

(1)  Doesn’t the company have any responsibility in the application process about starting again the application (in the offer letter says the employment is subject to the Visa working permit)?

(2) Is it common that after a visa application is rejected the company does not provide any help or solution?

(3) Taking into account that companies try always to employ people who already has visa to save money and time, how much is the cost of the working visa for them?

Thank you in advance.

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Can I Still Sponsor A Hong Kong Dependant Visa For My New Wife If I Hold An Employment Visa But Am Presently Between Jobs?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Your Question Answered / 2 responses

What will ImmD make of an application to sponsor a dependant visa by a Hong Kong employment visa holding foreign national who doesn’t presently have a job here?

QUESTION

I am in between jobs (currently on an employment visa in Hong Kong) and plan to get married soon (outside HK).

I would like to arrange for my wife to be in Hong Kong post marriage.

As I understand the broad guidelines are to be able to provide for food and shelter.

Can you tell me if being in between jobs is considered to be a negative point when i apply for my wife’s dependent visa here?

Have/can such cases be rejected by the Hong Kong Immigration Department on the basis of being in between employment?

Thank you!

ANSWER

Yes. Unfortunately, I think you’re going to find that this is going to be problematic for you because the essential premise of being able to sponsor a dependent visa, particularly if you are a temporary resident holding an employment visa, is that you have the necessary  income means to be able to support your family upon her relocation to Hong Kong in the wake of your marriage overseas.

So the principal problem is twofold in actual fact. Firstly, if you don’t have a means of income the Immigration Department are going to look askance at your ability to support her. Of course, the kind of funds that you have in your personal bank accounts will help to address that particular issue.

Secondly, and more importantly, is the essential premise behind having an employment visa in Hong Kong. You see, an employment visa is by definition, because it’s a visa, it’s a temporary arrangement. So you’re a temporary resident and the only reason that you have residency in Hong Kong today is because of  your previous ability to persuade the Immigration Department that you could pass the approvability test of having special skills, knowledge and experience of value to not readily available here and that your previous employer, that is your employer, your sponsoring employer of record, um, was able to show that they were justified in engaging your services rather than the services of a local person.

Thus, if the premise behind your residence in Hong Kong is dissipated through the cessation of your employment with your sponsoring employer of record, conceptually the question is begged as to why you are remaining here. Now, the way the immigration department system works is, means that when you get an employment visa, you get two privileges.

You get the privilege to work and you get the privilege to reside at the point of your employment ceasing your privilege to reside stops. Excuse me, your privilege to work stops, um, but your privilege to reside continues until your current limit of stay expires or until the immigration department take your limit of stay away from you, which invariably they never do.

So essentially, whilst you’re presently in Hong Kong with a privilege to reside, an essential precondition of the sponsorship of a dependent visa by a temporary employment visa holding resident is that you be engaged in the employment that the immigration department have granted you the approval for. So, because you effectively fall over in relation to your rationale for being here by way of an existing employment.

Ah, and the fact that you don’t have the means on the paper at least, or the income means to be able to support your new wife when you attempt to sponsor into Hong Kong independent visa. Uh, effectively, your application is going to fall over on two grounds.

Therefore, my best advice for you is to get yourself a new job offer, make an application to change your sponsorship from your previous sponsor through to the new sponsor, get that approval endorsed in your passport, and then put to bed the two problems that you’re going to face with sponsoring a dependent visa, really with 1 st, or one fell swoop, as it were.

So that’s my advice, and I hope you found that useful.

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Why Do Hong Kong Technology Startups Mostly Struggle To Win Investment Visa Approvals For Their Founders?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in 60 Second Snapshot, Employment Visas, Investment Visas / No responses

I’m often asked how feasible business investment visas are for foreign nationals seeking to establish a new technology start up here.

Bootstrappping and running Lean can be a double edged sword as a foreign national starting up in Hong Kong…

The actual extent of the challenge is, in fact, no more onerous than it has always been – namely the foreign entrepreneur needs to be able to show that he or she can make a substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong in order to have a business investment visa application approved.

To this end, the normal three legged business investment visa approvability test must be satisfied, namely that the business must be homed in premises suitable for the business, there must be a clear pathway to the creation of local employment opportunities and the business must be properly resourced, meaning sufficient cash and other business-critical resources present so that the Immigration Department can be satisfied that the business will go on to become a solidly entrenched commercial enterprise.

But here’s the problem with most technology start ups.

Unless very well funded from the outset, most of them are boot strapped, most of them are run according to the Lean philosophy – and most of them fail, and the Immigration Department know this.

Where the present approvability criteria demand a ‘substantial contribution to the economy of Hong Kong’ the vast majority of technology start ups are simply unable to pass the test – making Hong Kong a very hard place indeed for foreign blood to come in and help Hong Kong transition into a fully fledged connection economy.

There are ways to improve your chances of success, though, requiring a realignment of your plans and an increase in available capital to fund your ambitions.

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The Quality Migrant Admission Scheme – A Practical Guide

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Musing, Special Programmes / No responses

In this section of the talk, I talk about the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme (QMAS) – this much maligned programme that is ‘on the books’ so we continue to provide coverage of it (of course!)

On March 21, 2014 I gave a presentation at the Chinese Club entitled Business Immigration to Hong Kong – A Practical Guide. The content is still relevant today and can be summarised as follows:

The purpose of the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme is to attract highly skilled or talented individuals to settle in Hong Kong, with the aim of enhancing Hong Kong’s economic competitiveness. Unlike other visa schemes, successful applicants are not required to have secured a job offer in Hong Kong prior to their arrival. However, all applicants must meet a set of prerequisites before they can be awarded points under one of the two points-based tests: the General Points Test and the Achievement-based Points Test. These tests are used to assess applicants’ eligibility and allocate quotas accordingly.

To apply for the Scheme, the applicant must:

– Be at least 18 years old

– Prove financial capability to support themselves and any dependents during their stay without public assistance

– Have no criminal or immigration records

– Be proficient in Chinese or English

– Have a good education background, preferably with a university degree or equivalent qualifications

If the applicant fails to provide satisfactory documents to prove that they meet these requirements, their application will be refused immediately.

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LIFTING THE LID: Leaving Your Hong Kong Visa Extension To The Very Last Minute

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Employment Visas, Family Visas, Investment Visas, Musing, Special Programmes / No responses

In this short piece, I discuss the impact on our practice when clients leave their Hong Kong visa extension applications to the very last minute!

In this occasional series of commentary, I provide a peek inside our professional practice and offer a glimpse of what it’s like to be part of the Hong Kong Visa Centre team.

Leaving your Hong Kong visa extension application to the very last minute can be an absolute nightmare because there is a quota that the Immigration Department has each day that is allocated to people seeking to extend their visas and, of course, a lot of people leave it to the very last minute and it can be that the visa is going to expire within a day or two, and it can mean as queuing up at six o’clock in the morning to get access to the quota for the day. However, humans are humans, and things get left to the last minute very often; it’s not an ideal situation, therefore we try to encourage clients not to do that, but we service them and try and give them the best possible outcome that’s available, all things considered.

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How Does Pre-Existing Business Ownership Impact On A Hong Kong Prolonged Visitor Visa Application?

Posted by The Visa Geeza / in Family Visas, Visitor Visas, Your Question Answered / 4 responses

Will what has been done before impact on a Hong Kong Prolonged Visitor Visa out of policy application now?

QUESTION

I have a general question regarding conditions of stay for a Hong Kong prolonged visitor visa.

On the Hong Kong Immigration website it says:

“Subject to the following conditions of stay:

(a) he shall not take any employment, whether paid or unpaid:

(b) he shall not establish or join in any business; and

(c) he shall not become a student at a school, university or other education institution. “

Does being owner of a business fall into one of these categories ? 

Considering that  the company was incorporated in Hong Kong by other persons a few years ago, and bought before applying for such visa ?

ANSWER

Really good question, and I’m grateful for you having raised it in the way that you have.

Given that your acquisition of this business interest occurred at a time when you were not in breach of your conditions of stay, assuming that, at all times, this business was acquired when you were not in Hong Kong, and therefore the issue of your immigration status at the time that you acquired the business doesn’t come into play.

The principal issue at play in this regard, then, is what will the Immigration Department make of the fact that you have an interest in the business at the point of you being granted a prolonged visitor visa? Because if you’re involved in the business operationally and intend to be involved in the business operationally while you’re in possession of a prolonged visitor visa, that will certainly be a breach of your conditions of stay upon the grant of a prolonged visitor visa, assuming, of course, that the Immigration Department give you one because it is an out of policy act of discretion to grant such a visa in the first place.

So, effectively, assuming that you’re going to disclose what your interests are, what your financial circumstances are as part of your prolonged visa application, then your interest in this business in Hong Kong will be disclosed to the Immigration Department and you’ll have to make certain representations in relation to it.

The Immigration Department will be concerned that if you’re going to play an operational role in the business, as I say, as a prolonged visitor, you’ll be breaching your conditions of stay. So you’ll need to tread very carefully in how you articulate your argument to the Immigration Department, so that they can be satisfied that if they do effect a positive act of discretion in your favour and they do grant you a prolonged visitor visa, they have no concerns about you breaching those conditions by then, immediately, in a sense, walking across town and then taking care of the business, as it were, a business, in this instance, that you acquired before your question of immigration status ever came into play.

So I don’t think you’ve got any issues at all to be concerned about in respect to how you acquired your business interest, prior to making this application for a prolonged visa visa. But it’s certainly in your best interest to disclose the fact of your interest in that business to the Immigration Department so that they can then take it into consideration when determining if they should make that out of policy determination to grant you the prolonged visitor visa that you’re looking for.

Okay. I hope you found this useful.

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